Daniel Ellsberg: Trump More Dangerous to America Than Nixon

Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the top secret Pentagon Papers during the Nixon administration, says Donald Trump and his effort to "destabilize the press" is far more dangerous than anything Richard Nixon did.

"What we have never had is the president openly demonizing the press in the way Trump does and telling his base that the press is making up news against him," Ellsberg, 86, told The Independent.

"Nixon did not make an effort to destabilize the press. This is something new and it's sinister … The press is all we have … It's more shocking and dangerous in a way. It's hard to stop."

Ellsberg, a former military analyst who faced jail when he released the massive study showing the United States' longtime and futile involvement in the Vietnam War, added that other branches of government were not countering Trump's attack on the media.

"If he is successful, our democracy is very much under threat," Ellsberg said.

Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the top secret Pentagon Papers during the Nixon administration, says Donald Trump and his effort to "destabilize the press" is far more dangerous than anything Richard Nixon did.